Know your enemy: 5 questions with Broncos Wire

Week 15 sees the Cleveland Browns traveling to Denver for a Saturday night date with the Broncos. If Gregg Williams’ squad wants to finish with a winning record, taking out the Broncos is a necessity.

In order to learn more about Vance Joseph’s Broncos team, I turned to brother site Broncos Wire and managing editor Jon Heath. He was kind enough to answer my questions and make us all smarter fans when we tune in on Saturday night.

How does the same team beat Pittsburgh and the Chargers as part of a three-game win streak and then lose to the 49ers? Which are the real Broncos?

The real Broncos are probably the team that showed up in San Francisco. The L.A. game can probably be thrown out because it was a division contest, and the Steelers have played down to their opponents several times this year. So those two wins may look better on paper than they actually are. After losing Chris Harris and Emmanuel Sanders, Denver will have a hard time beating any team.

Vance Joseph said he wants Case Keenum to take more chances. Without Sanders, who will get those chances?

Your guess is as good as ours. We expected Phillip Lindsay to get a heavy workload last week, but the 49ers stacked the box and shut down the run game, which also shut down Denver’s entire offense. WRs DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick made a handful of nice plays in San Francisco, but both of them also had a few drops as well. Courtland Sutton is probably Keenum’s best option.

How hot is Joseph’s seat as head coach?

It’s on fire, but he will probably last until the end of the season. With only three games remaining, it’s not worth appointing an interim coach when they can start looking for a full-time candidate in January. There’s also a small chance (about 5 percent) that Denver could go 9-7 and squeak into the playoffs. The Broncos probably won’t make a decision until there’s a zero percent chance.

What is one thing the Broncos do well that doesn’t get enough attention nationally?

The team’s outside edge defenders — Von Miller and Bradley Chubb — get plenty of attention as pass rushers, but most NFL fans don’t realize that the team has an underrated interior defender. Shelby Harris doesn’t rack up a lot of sacks (he has 1.5 sacks in 13 games) but he frequently generates pressure up the middle, forcing QBs to move outside into the waiting arms of Miller and Chubb.

What do you think scares the Broncos most about these Browns?

Baker Mayfield is scary because Denver’s secondary is full of fourth-string cornerbacks, but Myles Garrett is probably the scariest member of the team. The Broncos have lost three starters on the offensive line and Garett Bolles (their starting left tackle) has allowed 12.5 sacks dating back to last season. If Cleveland can shut down Denver’s run game like the 49ers did, Keenum will be throwing to a bunch of no-name receivers with Garett in his face. That sounds like a recipe for disaster for the Broncos.

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